Designed for Greatness
by 10tonsoffun
Summary: Oriana Lawson gets the chance of a lifetime and moves to the new Citadel while it is still being rebuilt. She realizes that she is repeating some of the mistakes made by her older sister Miranda and tries to change her life before it is too late. In the process, she is nearly murdered, but is saved by a young and handsome spectre. This is an epilogue to Biotic Beginnings.


Designed For Greatness

Oriana Lawson had always prided herself on her ability to stay calm. Well, much like her sister, she was quite proud of her skills in most areas. Admittedly, sometimes too proud. But calmness and control had always been of the highest importance to her. Yet, there she was, pacing her office angrily, silently cursing the drell.

Her wonderful assistant Gabriel, who had been with her since she became the human ambassador to Rannoch, was leaning against a desk, watching her going back and forth in front of him. It looked like he was watching a tennis match from the sideline.

As Oriana muttered a particularly dirty swear word, he covered his ears dramatically. She had not meant to say it out loud, but she was so frustrated with the drell, it had just slipped. Gabriel, who seemed to be mildly amused by the rare spectacle of seeing his boss so vexed, smiled overbearingly.

"Slipping into mild racism there, Ambassador," he said, taking his hands off his ears and crossing his arms.

Oriana clamped her hand over her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Gabe."

He patted the edge of the desk next to him, offering her a seat. "The king is not cooperating yet?" he asked, as Oriana sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"No," she sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be reacting like this. It's just…"

"You worked very hard for them," Gabriel finished for her.

"YES!" she said, slapping her thighs in frustration.

It had been about seven years since Kolyat Krios and his wife, the drell crown-princess Vidani di Toro, had visited Rannoch and approached her about the possibility of permanently moving the drell from Kahje, where too many of them were getting sick with Kepral's Syndrome, to Rannoch.

Oriana had accepted the challenge, and together with Kolyat and Vidani she had done all of the hard work. Benefitting from her close relationship with Admiral Tali'Zorah, she had convinced the admiralty board to send a quarian research team to Kahje, and she had finally been given permission to allow the drell to set up a test colony on Rannoch. That was over a year ago, but the first drell had yet to arrive.

She had done everything she could on her end to save the drell race. And the quarians had been very open to the idea as well. Surprisingly open, since the introduction of an alien race would most likely push back the day when quarians could finally stop using their environmental suits. The hanar had also accepted that the drell would leave Kahje. The only problem remaining was the drell themselves.

Oriana had no doubt that Kolyat and Vidani were doing everything they could. They were not the reason she was so frustrated with the drell. Unfortunately, the princess had been put in the uncomfortable situation of waiting for her father to die in order for her to be able to save her species. Although he had acknowledged that their species would not be able to survive on Kahje in the long run, King Toro did not want to move the drell to Rannoch. He, along with many other drell of his generation, still had romantic dreams of a long-awaited return to their original home planet, Rakhana.

But both Oriana, Kolyat and Vidani knew that Rakhana would not be able to support organic life. Rannoch had turned out to be a brilliant alternative, but the king remained unconvinced. And so, Vidani was now waiting for her father to die so she could save her race.

That was why Oriana was so frustrated. Rannoch was ready for its first drell colonists, but the drell were not ready to leave Kahje yet it seemed.

"I thought the drell had democracy," Gabriel said, putting a calming arm around Oriana's shoulder. "Don't they have a parliament that can make these decisions?"

Oriana sighed and shook her head. "Not on this subject. The king is expected to lead them home. Every drell will be looking to him."

"Phew, that's a lot of pressure," Gabriel said.

Oriana silently nodded. Now that her temper had been cooled, she was mostly feeling sorry for the drell, and also for the king, who was unable to see that he was working against the salvation of his people because of a romantic dream of a return to Rakhana.

In her job, Oriana had involved herself in many different projects. Several of them were far beyond what was required of a human ambassador to Rannoch. This was definitely one of them. She had almost become the drell ambassador to Rannoch. These projects were sometimes huge. She had played an important part in the recent reactivation of the geth, and she continued to work on improving quarian immune systems. At times, she had felt that she was in over her head, but she had never felt as useless as now. The future of this particular project was completely out of her hands. And, by the way things were looking, seven years of hard work could be wasted.

In her desperation, she had briefly considered ordering someone like the Shadow Broker to assassinate King Toro. It was a horrible thought, but she excused herself with the argument that she was thinking of the greater good of the drell. But, of course, she would never actually order a hit on the king. Not only did the moral implications make her sick, but she would also be running the risk of indirectly harming Kolyat, who was honor-bound to protect the royal family. She knew he would do his duty, even if the drell as a whole would benefit from Toro's death.

"I'll run out and get you some lunch," Gabriel said, standing up. "And I'm buying you some chocolate as well. You need it."

Oriana smiled at him. "Oh, thank you, Gabe. You're the best."

While her assistant was away, Oriana walked around the table and sat down on her chair. She softly massaged her temples, trying to think of ways she could convince the stubborn king to listen to reason.

"Perhaps I can take advantage of the compact," she thought loudly, allowing her VI to note the idea on her datapad. If she could convince the hanar leaders to ask King Toro to move the drell to Rannoch, the special relationship between the drell and their hanar saviors should mean that Toro would feel compelled to do as they asked. The compact, according to both Kolyat and Vidani, was a much stronger concept than most humans understood.

Having read the finished note, Oriana placed her datapad back on the desk. She needed to think about something else for a while. Her brain was her best asset. And if it was to continue working properly, she needed to remind herself of her successes. This drell deal had caused too much stress.

The reactivation of the geth was perhaps her proudest moment and biggest success as an ambassador. It was almost five years ago that the quarians had voted to reactivate their former servants following the firing of the Crucible. Not only had Oriana supported Admiral Tali'Zorah's campaign to reactivate the geth, but once the referendum had been won, she had also involved herself in the actual process of bringing the AIs back to life.

Now, five years after the quarians voted for reactivation, Oriana had to say that it was a huge success. The relationship between the geth and their creators was peaceful, which had obviously been the most important criteria in the reactivation procedure. Having the geth back was a huge help. New cities were popping up all over Rannoch every year, and the reactivation had greatly increased the speed at which they could build, even though there were just 50,000 active physical units so far. Even more interestingly, the geth had also begun helping the quarians by uploading themselves to their creators' suits, rewriting environmental functions. This should simulate infections and over time help the quarians to boost their immune systems, allowing them to live without suits much faster than they would have naturally.

Even more amazingly, the geth had also been given a seat on the council. The council had grown to include members of every sapient species, and with the introduction of the geth, this included synthetic lifeforms. Oriana liked the idea of a geth councilor. It made perfect sense for her. Actually, the geth councilor was doing a much better job of representing its kind on the council than any of the other members. The unit that served on the council was not just an elected representative of the geth. It was the geth. It always referred to itself as 'we', and was able to directly present the opinions of the vast geth consensus to the rest of the council.

Just thinking about the success story that was the geth, Oriana could feel herself relax. She closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

"There is nothing more you can do. You can't always win," she sighed to herself, pushing the drell drama to the back of her mind. "You are not perfect."

"You're damn near it, boss," Gabriel said, stepping back into the office with a bag of food from the local levo-deli.

Oriana and Gabriel had known each other for close to eight years. He was her first and only employee since she became the ambassador on Rannoch. Not only was he incredibly intelligent and hard-working, which he proved daily by coming much closer to keeping up with Oriana's superhuman brain than anyone else ever could, but Gabriel also had the ability to pull her out of her work from time to time. He always seemed to know when she needed to slow down.

"Catch," he said, throwing her a bar of chocolate.

She grabbed the chocolate out of the air and stared back at him. "At least give me a sandwich first, so I won't feel so fat."

Gabriel snorted. "Fat? If you're fat, I'm morbidly obese."

In fact, Gabriel was in great shape. He just liked to subtly flirt with her, even though they both knew he was just acting. Gabriel was not into women, but took every opportunity to compliment Oriana on both her looks and intellect.

"Just hand me the food," Oriana said, reaching out for the bag in her assistant's hand.

As they unpacked the lunch, Gabriel told Oriana about the appointments he had made for her for the rest of the week. She never used her calendar, but preferred to memorize her busy schedule. It was great exercise for her brain, and she knew, in the unlikely event that she forgot anything, that Gabriel had all her meetings on a datapad somewhere.

After they had eaten, Oriana decided to share her chocolate with Gabriel.

"I disagree with you," he said, taking a bite. "You _are_ perfect."

She laughed. After she had chosen to confide in Gabriel and tell him everything about the nature of her genetic composition, he often joked with her about it. When she first told him, he had not even seemed particular surprised. He had just told her that he knew there had to be a reason why she was so smart and so beautiful. It wasn't fair, he had said.

Oriana looked back at Gabriel, sensing that he wanted to ask her something.

"Have you… Thought about that other thing?" he finally asked.

She knew immediately what he was referring to. Still, she decided to stall the conversation.

"What thing?"

"You know," he said. "The job?"

She smiled overbearingly at him.

"It's not a job offer."

"Not yet," he interjected. "They are going to offer it to you. Otherwise they are complete idiots."

Oriana could not help but blush. Gabriel was loyal to a fault, and she was sometimes afraid that his admiration would make her overconfident.

The job offer, or rather the _potential_ job offer, was not just any job. And if Oriana was being honest, she knew that she would be offered the job officially, if only she reached out for it.

The human councilor, Mr. Hamid Suliman, had announced his retirement. And the Alliance was looking for candidates to take over as humanity's most important political representative in the Milky Way. In a turn of events that both terrified and thrilled Oriana, her name had come up through both official and unofficial channels as one of the most popular candidates.

"I have a surprise for you. I wanted to wait until you were in a better mood," Gabriel said, holding out his datapad towards her. "This came for you this morning."

Oriana leaned forward and read off the screen. She couldn't help but gasp, and she looked back up at Gabriel who gave her a toothy smile. There it was. Her official invitation to discuss her candidacy as the next human councilor.

"If you are joking, Gabe…" she whispered in a warning tone.

"It's no joke," he said, pointing to the official Alliance logo at the bottom of the datapad's screen. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Oriana almost wanted to lie down on the floor, but ended up sitting back in her chair, staring blankly into the room. For the second time that day, her superior, analytical brain had been momentarily paralyzed. This was far more enjoyable than her trouble with the drell, but it messed with her head just the same.

"I think I might accept," she finally said to Gabriel in little more than a whisper.

"Of course you will," he replied.

"But what about Rannoch?"

"You have been here for what… Eight years? You've done more than anyone could have expected. You've made it so easy for the next ambassador."

"And the drell?"

"To be honest, it is not your problem. It was never the responsibility of this embassy to help the drell to begin with, but you did it anyway. And if they want to come here, it has to be up to them from now on."

She knew that Gabriel was right, but she did not like the idea of leaving a project half-finished. Perhaps, if the Alliance ended up naming her the new councilor, she would still be able to help the drell.

She nodded slowly, and Gabriel's smile widened.

"I guess you'll have to book me a transport to the Citadel then," she said.

He winked at her. "I already did."

-X-X-X-

Oriana Lawson was vain. Maybe not that much more than any other woman at her age, but still... At 35 she was often mistaken for a women in her early twenties. Those incidents fed her ego, and Oriana could not pretend that she did not enjoy it. Her marvelous genes played a large role in her youthful looks, but Oriana also had to admit that she liked spending time making sure that she always looked her absolute best.

She remembered what Miranda had once told her:

"Your beauty is a gift, and a weapon that can be even more effective than your biotics or your marksmanship. Maintain it like a weapon and learn how to use it as you would with a pistol. You might as well embrace your beauty and take advantage of it."

Oriana was not fond of the idea of weaponizing her appearance, and although she would certainly make sure that she looked her best, she tried to stay above using cheap tricks like an overly accentuated cleavage to her advantage. But she had given some thought to Miranda's words when preparing for her meeting with the absolute top of the Alliance. Not only did she have to impress the admirals, but the leaders of each of the individual nations and colonies that made up the Alliance. Everything had to be just perfect.

Before going to the meeting, Gabriel had assured her, about a hundred times, that she looked absolutely splendid. And, when she looked at her reflection in a glass panel on the way into the meeting room in the Presidium Tower, she had to admit that she was pleased with the result. She looked professional in the new dress she had bought for the occasion. But she was also very consciously showing off just the right amount of 'weapons'.

She did not know how many other candidates there were. She hadn't even heard anything about who they were. She also did not know exactly who was going to be at the meeting. She was uncharacteristically nervous. This was huge, and suddenly it seemed like there were a thousand things that made her utterly unqualified for the job.

She had no official education. None. Naturally, having read as many books as she had and being equipped with a supernatural IQ, she could go toe to toe with most experts on any given subject, but she had never gone to a university. Her brief stay at the Jon Grissom Academy was the closest she ever got to completing any form of education. Her curriculum vitae wasn't very impressive. In fact, with no education and no other relevant job experience than her ambassadorship on Rannoch, she couldn't see why her name had even come up as a possibility.

Also, she told herself, she was too young. Far too young. The previous councilors, Anderson, Udina, Suliman, they had all been much older than her. Why would anyone want a 35-year-old councilor. To the asari and krogan councilors, she would seem like a newborn.

She tried to calm herself, but it was difficult. Her brain kept coming up with different factors that might disqualify her. And even if she did actually, against all odds, become the next human councilor, she would have to follow after Hamid Suliman. The former Grissom lecturer would leave some huge shoes to fill. Councilor Suliman had been an extremely popular councilor, both with his own kind and with the other council races.

Standing in front of the door to the meeting room, she pushed it all to the back of her mind and took a deep breath before knocking twice.

"Come in!"

Oriana opened the door and entered the meeting room to find a long table with only one empty chair, at the very far end. All the other seats were taken by Alliance admirals, assistants and a few other high-ranking officers. As she walked the long walk to the very end of the table, she noticed that Councilor Suliman was there as well. He smiled pleasantly at her. For the first time since she entered the room, she noticed that the walls all around her were lined with screens. It looked like this meeting would also include several dozens of people who weren't even in the room. She looked around at the faces on the screens and recognized one world leader after the other. The American president, the president of the European Union, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. They were all there, looking down at her.

She felt at awe, and stood nervously behind the empty chair.

"Please sit, Ms. Lawson," Coats, the most prominent of the admirals, said.

Oriana pulled out her chair and sat down. She was suddenly very conscious of the placement of her hands, and tried out a few different positions before intertwining her fingers in the middle. She hoped it wasn't too obvious just how nervous she was.

If Coats noticed anything, he did not show it.

"Can you confirm that you are Oriana Lawson?" the admiral asked.

Oriana nodded. "Yes."

"The daughter of the traitor Henry Lawson!" someone from one of the screens on the wall added in a harsh tone. Oriana couldn't make out who had said it.

"And sister of known Cerberus-affiliate Miranda Lawson," another added.

She sighed. Why had she not foreseen that her family's checkered past would come back to haunt her? With her father's history and Miranda's ties to Cerberus, Oriana might as well have been the antichrist from an Alliance point of view.

"Miranda Lawson defected Cerberus along with Commander Shepard," Hamid Suliman defended. "With no small risk to herself."

Oriana felt a pang of sadness. She knew better than anyone just how much it had cost Miranda to defy the Illusive Man.

"I think my actions as the ambassador to Rannoch speak clearly. I have no qualms about working closely with non-humans," she said, making sure to keep her voice loud but calm.

"Ms. Lawson, we are looking for the next councilor. Someone who can represent human interests in the council," one of the admirals said.

"I understand," she replied with a respectful nod. "But I tend to think politics on a larger scale. I would not vote for something that would benefit our species if it does direct harm to others. If that is the councilor you are looking for, you have the wrong woman."

Admiral Coats nodded thoughtfully. "Are there any more questions to the loyalty of Ms. Lawson?" he asked, looking around the table.

"She is too young," one of the presidents on the screens interjected. But several others quickly came to Oriana's defense.

"With all due respect," Councilor Suliman said, nodding towards the screens. "With the exception of those on the admiralty board, Ms. Lawson has seen more battle and travelled more of the galaxy than most of us. I believe she is wise beyond her years."

Oriana could have sworn that the elderly councilor winked at her. This was the second time he had defended her, and she suspected that he would be a strong ally.

"And," Suliman continued. "If anyone does not want Ms. Lawson to be my successor, they should just vote against her."

The men and women on the screens murmured, and Oriana wondered why Suliman was putting in such a good word for her. She never reached a conclusion, before she had to answer the next question.

Later that evening, long after the meeting was over, Gabriel and Oriana were sharing a bottle of red wine at their hotel room.

"It sounds like you handled yourself well," Gabriel commented, swirling the liquid around in his glass. He was looking great, tall and slender and in a brand new suit. It looked like he was the one trying to become a councilor.

She sighed and leaned back in the sofa. "I don't think I could have done much differently. Either they like me, or they don't."

"Who could they possibly like better than you?"

"Someone who is more human-centric," Oriana said, "someone older, someone educated, someone with a penis?"

Gabriel nearly spat out his wine. "No!?"

Oriana shook her head. "No. That probably wouldn't be the reason. Half the admiralty board is female these days… And the majority of the state leaders actually."

"See, you're just making stuff up," Gabriel chuckled. "You're trying to deny it, but you might as well face it. They'll pick you."

"Easy, Gabe. We don't even know who the other candidates are."

She was just about to top up Gabriel's glass when someone knocked on the door. She waited for someone to call out "roomservice", but the hotel room was silent. Finally, Gabriel jumped to his feet, marched to the door and opened it.

"Oh, Councilor," Gabriel said in surprise, making room for Suliman to enter the room. Oriana quickly put down her wineglass and stood to greet their important guest.

Behind the councilor's back, Gabriel gave her two thumbs up before slipping silently out into the hallway, presumably to go to his own room.

"Welcome, Councilor," Oriana said, offering Suliman a seat on the sofa opposite hers. "Can I get you a glass?"

"Thank you, but I'm driving," he said and took the offered seat.

That was one of the reasons for Suliman's popularity. As the councilor, he could have had a chauffeur if he wanted to, but Hamid Suliman chose to drive his own skycar.

"The voting starts in a few minutes, but I'm sure you are aware of that," he said, smiling tiredly. Now that Oriana got a closer look at him, it was no wonder that Suliman was retiring. He had to be at least 85 years old. He was a tall and broad man, bald and with a thick, grey beard. But his dark eyes were still full of life and revealed an almost familial warmth.

Oriana was very much aware that the voting process was just about to begin. The vote would be open for 20 hours, allowing everyone to support their favorite candidate no matter where they were in the galaxy.

Suliman did not get to vote, and since she had never met him before, she was curious as to why he had supported her at the meeting and was now sitting in her hotel room.

"I believe in you, Ms. Lawson," he said, answering the question that she was about to pose.

"Why?" she asked.

He smiled. "I think you were _designed_ for something like this."

The way he said _designed_ was very revealing. Oriana had no doubt that Hamid Suliman had somehow learned exactly how unique her genes were.

"How do you…"

He chuckled and stroked his beard, clearly entertained by her confusion.

"It would seem you have a very powerful friend. I am sure you have heard about the 'one who knows all the secrets'…"

"The Shadow Broker," Oriana whispered.

Suliman nodded.

"The Shadow Broker contacted me and suggested, rather strongly, that my successor should be Oriana Lawson."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes. So I asked him…"

"Or her!"

"Apologies… I asked him or her, why Oriana was such a great candidate. And I was sent a rather large number of files about you. After reading it and the Broker's rather emphatic recommendation, I have no doubt you are the right person to take over after me."

"Why would the Shadow Broker do that?" Oriana pondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Suliman said, leaning back in his seat. "Do you know who the Shadow Broker is?"

Oriana shook her head, but in all secrecy, she had formed a few theories about the true identity of the Shadow Broker. She would have to look into that after the voting was over.

"I must thank you, and the Broker I guess, for your support," Oriana said.

"Do it through your work on the council," Suliman said, standing up.

"If I am elected…"

Councilor Suliman walked over to the door and turned back to face her. "Trust me, Ms. Lawson. By this time tomorrow, you will be named as the next councilor. And I will be sure that I am leaving my office in good hands."

Oriana was just about to object. She still wasn't sure. After all, there had been varying opinions of her during the meeting. But Suliman had already left the hotel room.

She returned to the sofas and found a datapad on the coffee table. It must have been the councilor's. She picked it up and was just about to run after Suliman to give it back. But then she noticed the numbers on the screen. She was watching a live tally of the votes. She definitely was not supposed to have access to these votes, and neither was Councilor Suliman.

Against her better judgment, Oriana read the numbers on the screen. The votes were still ticking in, but there was no denying that she was heading for a landslide victory. She could not stop herself from smiling, and she could tell that her hands were shaking slightly from the excitement. She was on her way to becoming the next human councilor. Overwhelmed by curiosity, she looked at the names of her opposing candidates, but their identities had been censored out. Clearly, she was not supposed to have all the secrets handed to her.

She had a strong suspicion how Suliman, who had obviously left behind his datapad for her to find, had gotten his hands on these live updates of a secret voting process. And, true enough, at the very bottom of the screen, in tiny letters, was a small signature:

 _Courtesy of the Shadow Broker._

She put the datapad back on the coffee table just as Gabriel came running back into the room.

"What happened?" he demanded to know.

Oriana just pointed to the datapad on the table.

Her assistant picked it up and had a quick look at the numbers.

"You've won… You've freaking won!" he yelled, ignoring the fact that Oriana should not have had access to the results.

"There's still almost a full day of voting left," Oriana said.

"Doesn't matter," Gabriel laughed, jumping from one foot to the other. "Even if the rest vote against you, you've got enough to win!"

She ripped the datapad out of his hands and looked down at the votes that were still ticking in. She quickly did the math in her head.

"You're right!" she gasped.

"YES!" Gabriel shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Congratulations!"

Oriana allowed herself to be pulled into his hug, and she soon started jumping up and down with him. If anyone had seen this silly behavior, they might have second thoughts about having her on the council.

She ran back to the datapad which had been thrown on the floor in all the excitement. The numbers were still going up as the votes ticked in, and Oriana was the clear winner.

"I'm opening another bottle!" Gabriel shouted and ran to the minibar. "No, fuck that! I'm ordering up some champagne!"

"No, don't!" Oriana said. "We can't advertise that we know I'm going to win."

He hit himself in the forehead. "Of course, stupid! And you will have to act all surprised tomorrow!"

"That will be easy. I don't think I'll really believe it until it's official."

-X-X-X-

One of the perks of Oriana's body was the lack of hangovers, and while Gabriel took a few extra hours of sleep after their late night celebrations, courtesy of the minibar, she was walking along the Presidium Lakes, trying not to look suspiciously smug.

She had checked Councilor Suliman's datapad again before leaving the hotel. Even though there were still around 10 hours of voting left, 94 % of those eligible had already cast their votes, and Oriana had secured 85 % of the votes. She had won, but she couldn't show that she knew.

She thought about visiting Kurt before returning to the hotel, but if she knew Kurt Nielsen as well as she thought she did, he was probably still sleeping, or maybe on one of his 'business trips' to Omega. And she would have plenty of opportunities to talk to Kurt in the future. One of the council's major jobs was to oversee the ongoing reconstruction of the Citadel. The wards were not finished yet, and Kurt was heavily involved in the process. It suddenly hit her that she would become his boss. In fact, she was about to be A LOT of people's boss. And she would become very famous. This would probably be the last day she could walk around on the Citadel without everyone recognizing her immediately. She was going to miss that.

Oriana decided to visit another old acquaintance on the Presidium. She had not seen Liara T'Soni in years, and she had something important to discuss with the asari.

Liara's office was enormous. A small platoon of asari assistants sat behind neat rows of desks in front of a large door that led to the main office itself. Oriana was impressed. She hadn't known that Liara had so many employees. Obviously, her information business was booming.

One of the asari assistants led Oriana past the rows of desks and into the main office.

"Ambassador Lawson is here to see you, Doctor T'Soni," the assistant announced.

"Yes," Liara said, hurrying around her desk to greet Oriana. "Thank you, Safri. You may leave."

The assistant nodded and left Oriana alone with Liara.

"It's great to see you again, Oriana," Liara said, pulling her into a hug.

Oriana could tell that the asari had recently been crying. She had a strong suspicion why.

"You too, Liara. I heard that the council finally decided to name the fifth ward after Commander Shepard."

Liara brushed away the tear that was creeping out from the corner of her eye. She had obvious been reminiscing about her days with the commander. She nodded and asked Oriana to take a seat.

"What are you doing here on the Citadel?" Liara asked.

Oriana laughed. "Don't play games with me, T'Soni. You know exactly what I'm doing here."

Liara smiled. "I may have heard a rumor or two."

Oriana nodded. "Right…"

"If there is anything I can do for you while you are here, let me know," Liara said.

"I actually just dropped by to thank you," Oriana said.

"Thank me?" Liara said. "For what?"

"You know what I am talking about. The support of Councilor Suliman… The live voting updates…"

Liara sighed. It was no secret that Liara was a very successful information broker, but Oriana had suspected for some time, that Shepard's widowed mate was actually _the_ broker. It was hard not to enjoy it a little bit, as Oriana watched Liara realize that her secret identity was not so secret anymore.

"Don't worry," Oriana said happily. "I will not tell anyone."

Liara shook her head. "You are too smart, Lawson. Hopefully, you will make a good councilor."

"You must suspect that I will, Liara. Why would you help me so much?"

Liara smiled back across the table. "I _am_ convinced that you will be a great councilor. I have been monitoring your career closely. In fact, I have been pulling strings to make sure that everyone from the Normandy reached their full potential. So I sent your name and file to a few of the right people to make sure that you would be considered as a candidate, then I contacted Suliman. I also helped some of our other friends. How do you think Kurt Nielsen landed his job? Who do you think threw Hamid Suliman's name into the bowl back in the day. I do what is best for people, and what is best for the galaxy."

The extent of Liara's power was almost scary, and Oriana hoped that she wasn't just helping her because of good old times. Luckily, Liara genuinely seemed to think that Oriana was the best candidate.

"How can I thank you?" Oriana finally asked.

"Just be a good councilor," Liara said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Suliman said something similar," Oriana chuckled.

"He's a smart man."

Oriana leaned back in her seat and looked across at the asari, trying to read her expression.

"I need to know something," Oriana said.

"You want to know if I rigged the votes," Liara guessed correctly.

"If you did, I will not accept the position."

"And that," Liara said happily, "is exactly why you should have a seat on the council. No, I did not rig the vote. I merely suggested to Suliman, who does not get to vote, that he should back your candidacy. And then, of course, I thought you would enjoy seeing all those votes next to your name."

"And you censored the names of the other candidates…"

"Yes. I thought that would be the right thing to do. Well, I could tell you who you are up against, but I'm not used to giving away so many secrets for free," Liara joked.

Oriana wouldn't exactly say that she had a close friendship with Liara. But the bond that had been tied between them during the short stay on the Normandy all those years ago was not so easily broken. And she had seen Liara on a few occasions since the war, at Charles' and Jennifer's wedding and other special events involving the friends they had in common. But Oriana was not sure she had ever been alone with Liara in a room before. Which made the Shadow Broker's support of her candidacy as councilor all the more surprising.

"How are you doing, Liara?" Oriana asked, satisfied with the information that the asari had given up.

Liara looked out of her office windows and sighed deeply. "I'm okay," she said quietly.

Liara might not have been her closest friend, but she had just helped Oriana achieve a great dream. A superior brain was not needed to tell that the asari was not doing as great as she pretended. Oriana wanted to stay out of her business, but she wanted Liara to know that she would be there for her.

The source of Liara's despondency was easily located, at least by anyone who knew her. She had never really recovered from Shepard's death. And although she had achieved great things, both as Liara T'Soni and as the Shadow Broker, since the war, Shepard's widow had not been the same since that crucial day in London back in 2186.

"Let me know if I am overstepping some line, Liara. But you are obviously not okay."

"I don't need a therapist, Lawson," Liara responded.

Oriana noticed the defensive tone and the sudden formal use of her last name.

"No," she said. "You need a friend and half a bottle of good wine, Liara. It doesn't have to be me. It could be Tali'Zorah. She is a very good listener. But she is going to tell you exactly what I would tell you. And I think Shepard would have told you the same. You need to move on."

Liara fidgeted with her hands. And then, to Oriana's surprise, she opened up.

"I know," she sighed deeply. "It has been… what… 16 years?"

Oriana nodded. It may not be a long time for an asari, but she was determined to make Liara's life a little better.

"It's funny," Liara said. "My life has actually turned out as I thought it would. When I was younger, I was treated as a nerd… I guess I was a nerd. I was only interested in archaeology and the protheans. No-one at the university, including myself, thought I would ever find a mate. I thought I would be one of those people who are just married to their job."

Oriana nodded. As a single woman in a high performance job, she could certainly identify with what Liara was saying.

"But then I met _him_ ," Liara continued, as if Shepard's actual name was somehow sacred. "And I suddenly thought that he would be the rest of my life. Well, the rest you know. In the last 16 years I have been married to my job, just like I used to think I would be. Only now I'm digging up secrets and not prothean artefacts."

"And is that what you want?"

After a short pause, Liara sighed deeply. "No. Shepard taught me so much… about life and love. I want to feel all that again. But it makes me feel nervous and guilty."

"Don't feel guilty," Oriana said. "It's about time you got your sea legs back. There must be some hot guys for a couple of girls like us on the Citadel."

Liara giggled and blushed slightly.

"Oh, Oriana, if that is your real reason for wanting to move to the Citadel, you may be disappointed… And maybe my support for you was a bit too strong."

Oriana laughed and shook her head. "There must be _some_ men!"

"There's actually this young doctor who's opened a clinic down in Tayseri…"

"You go girl!" Oriana laughed, and Liara embarrassedly hid her face in her hands.

Oriana could tell that Liara, being the Shadow Broker, was enjoying talking about some of her own minor secrets and her own feelings for a change.

"I have to go to a meeting in five minutes," Liara said, wiping a happy tear from the corner of her eye. "But you and I should go out for a cocktail soon, Oriana. I have a feeling that you will have something to celebrate very soon."

Oriana looked at one of the screens on the wall where the live vote count was conveniently shown. 98 % of the votes were now cast, and her lead was even more comfortable than before.

"Yes, definitely," she replied. "I want to know all about this doctor. Perhaps he has a brother."

Oriana and Liara shared a much longer hug than they had when she arrived. Clearly, their friendship had evolved. Oriana realized that, as the new councilor, she was going to enjoy the benefits of both this renewed friendship and Liara's unique abilities.

She decided, since it was now a little later in the day, that she would swing by Kurt's apartment before going back to Gabriel.

Without knowing the details of Kurt's employment contract, Oriana could tell that he was being paid quite generously for his work for the council. His apartment was placed in pretty nice area on the Presidium. The fact that he could afford to live on the Presidium at all revealed quite a lot. If Kurt's contract with the council wasn't extraordinary, he would have moved to Tayzeri or Zakera as soon as they opened.

She managed to locate Kurt's floor and found his apartment door. There was a curled up necktie on the floor in front of it. Oriana picked up the tie and knocked gently. After a few minutes of waiting and many more increasingly persistent knocks, she was starting to hear noises coming from inside the apartment. She was already starting to regret her decision to visit.

"What's this, sweetheart… Couldn't wait to come back for more, could you?" Kurt said as he opened his door. The shock was obvious on his face when he saw Oriana standing outside.

"Expecting someone else?" she chuckled, glancing at Kurt's dishelved hair and half-buttoned shirt.

"Oriana," he gasped. "It's great to see you. I certainly didn't expect _you._ What are you doing on the Citadel?"

She stepped forward and leaned into his open arms and accepted his hug. As she did, she sensed a faint smell of women's perfume with a hint of red wine.

"Did you have guests over last night?" she asked.

Kurt nodded. "She left an hour ago, I think… I fell asleep."

For the first time since he opened his door, Kurt noticed the tie in Oriana's hand.

"Is this yours?" she handed it to him.

"Yup," Kurt said and tied a quick double Windsor around his neck.

Oriana was impressed with Kurt's ability to remain calm and completely unembarrassed by this whole situation. She was herself a master of calmness under pressure, but she doubted she would be able to perform as well as Kurt if she was the one who had just been caught after a night of passion. Not that she had had one of those in a long time.

"Who is she? Should I bother getting to know this one?" Oriana asked, referring of course to Kurt's long list of conquests, and very short list of actual serious girlfriends.

"Probably not," Kurt said.

"Please tell me you know her name!"

"I do. It's Sally," he said. "Or Sarah. Definitely one of the two."

Oriana sighed and shook her head, as Kurt invited her into the apartment.

"What about you and your assistant, what was her name? Mona? I like her."

Kurt shook his head. "Not anymore. Well, she still works for me, but she is married now."

"And you respect that?"

He frowned. "I may be a scoundrel, but I am not completely corrupt."

Oriana nodded in satisfaction and took a moment to look around the apartment. This was the first time she had visited him in his home. Judging from the asari designer furniture, she had been right about his contract, or maybe he just had some good contacts on Omega. She was of course thinking about the T'Loak sisters. Kurt's complicated relationship with Adina always came up whenever she talked to any of the other former members of the Psychotic Biotics.

She noticed two empty wine glasses on the table. There were traces of lipstick along the rim of one of them. Oriana picked up the glass and sniffed it.

"Yeah, we had a glass or two of Merlot last night," Kurt said.

"No, you did not," Oriana said. "This is Cabernet Sauvignon."

"You _are_ clever," he chuckled, and she knew that he had just been testing her, much like Miranda had done from time to time.

"Yes," she said, placing the wineglass back on the table. "Yes, I am."

She picked up a half-empty bottle of champagne from the table and read the label.

"What did you celebrate?" she asked. "Champagne is usually for celebrations."

"It's a very cheap bottle," Kurt admitted. "I just wanted to get rid of it."

"What a lucky girl…"

"I obviously didn't tell her that!"

"And you assumed she wasn't a connoisseur."

"She asked if that," he pointed to the glasses that had contained the Cabernet Sauvignon, "was red or white wine. I mean, you only have to look at the color! I don't think Sasha is a wine expert."

"I thought her name was Sally… Or Sarah?"

"Whatever!"

"Kurt…"

"I'm just kidding," he laughed. "Her name is definitely Sally. She's a nice girl, just not quite as smart as you… were when you were three years old."

Oriana could not help but laugh. "Well, I did speak four different languages."

She placed the champagne bottle back on the table and found two clean flute glasses.

"I have something to celebrate," she said, pouring two glasses.

"Oh really?" kurt said, taking one of the flutes.

"I am to be the next councilor," she revealed, raising her glass.

Kurt, who had been just about to touch his glass to hers, froze.

"True?" he finally asked.

She nodded. "Will you celebrate with me?" she asked, still holding her glass out in front of him.

"Fuck yeah," he shouted, grabbed Oriana's drink from her hand and threw the contents of both glasses into the sink. "But not with this cheap shit! I'll be right back."

He returned shortly after with another bottle. Oriana immediately recognized it as a much better, much more exclusive and much, much more expensive champagne.

"Only the best for my friends," Kurt declared and opened the bottle while Oriana started telling him the full story. The only part she left out was the bit about Liara being the Shadow Broker. And she of course asked him not to talk about it with anyone else until it had been made official.

"I knew you would make it into some big office," he said. "I just knew it. Hey, can you get me a raise?"

She chuckled and looked around the Presidium apartment and out at the brilliant view from Kurt's windows. "Hah, I don't think so. Are you in dire need?

He pouted childishly. "Famished."

"Hardly," she said, picking up the glass of expensive champagne.

He sighed, but quickly smiled back at her. "I'm still happy you got the job. And I'm glad you came to see me. It's been a while since I've seen any of the guys. And, I should remember to say this, you look great. Are you sure you're not some sort of vampire that keeps itself from ageing by sucking the youth out of others?"

She laughed. Kurt had a lively fantasy, but this was not the first time she had been accused of using various surgical and/or magical methods to look like she was in her early twenties and not 35 years old.

"I'm not a vampire," she said. "It's just the genes."

"Of course," he said. "Lucky you."

In fact, Kurt did not have a lot to complain about. For a man in his mid-thirties, Kurt had a very youthful, almost boyish, look. He still had his trademark blond hair. The only major difference was a few more wrinkles by the eyes every time he flashed his famous grin. And he was preserving his youth with no genetic engineering, which, to Oriana, was much more impressive. Perhaps _he_ was the vampire.

She looked at the time and realized that she had been away from the hotel far longer than expected.

"I have to get back to Gabriel," she said. "You and I will have plenty of time to catch up later."

"Absolutely," Kurt said, giving her a warm hug. "I will take you out for dinner when we can celebrate in public."

Oriana knocked back the last bit of champagne in her glass and left Kurt's apartment in a hurry.

When she came back to the hotel, Gabriel was waiting for her in the lobby. He was looking refreshed and, as always, he was dressed to the nines. She knew he had bought 3 or 4 new suits just for this trip to the Citadel. He was even more excited than she was.

"Brunch?" he asked, and she nodded, realizing how hungry she was.

As they walked towards the waterfront cafes, Oriana was trying to clear her mind. She had to think about something else than the council for a few seconds, or she would drive herself mad before she was even on it. Gabriel was making it hard, constantly talking about how amazing she would be and how great it was that a 35-year-old could make it to the 'big league'.

"How's the hangover, Gabe?" she asked, most of all to change the topic.

"Oh, fine, boss. You should just have woken me up. Where did you go this morning?"

"To visit an old friend."

"From the war?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Which one?"

"Kurt Nielsen."

"No!" Gabriel gasped, holding his hand in front of his mouth. "You didn't go to see him without me!"

Oriana had honestly forgotten that Gabriel was quite taken with Kurt. He had only ever seen him in some photos of Oriana's, but the assistant had immediately noticed Kurt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Gabe. I can introduce you some other time," she said.

"I'll forgive you when you do," he said dramatically.

"You know he's not…"

"I _know…_ He's not gay," Gabriel sighed sadly. "But, please, just bring me along next time!"

Oriana promised and paid for their food as an extra consolation to her assistant.

-X-X-X-

Oriana had only been councilor for a month. She was still receiving congratulations from her friends, and she had just had her belongings transferred from Rannoch to the Citadel. She had only just put her old house up for sale and moved into the new home that Kurt had helped her find on the Presidium. It had only been a month, and she had had her first death threat.

It had landed in her inbox overnight, and she had caught Gabriel, who, of course, was still her assistant, trying to delete it before she saw it. But she was not interested in being protected from reality. If someone was so unsatisfied with having her as a councilor that they were willing to send her death threats, she wanted to know about it.

The message was heavily encrypted and could not be tracked. But she didn't need to track it. It was signed by the Terra Firma party. Once a genuine democratic party, with a few rather extreme anti-alien agendas and an unfortunate link to Cerberus, the Terra Firma party had now given up on democracy and become a new beast entirely. Not unlike Cerberus in the old days, the Terra Firma party was staying out of the public light as much as possible. Oriana was pretty sure that Terra Firma was not involved in experiments like the old Cerberus had been. But, just like Cerberus, Terra Firma was trying to influence galactic politics from the shadows.

Clearly, Oriana was not the Terra Firma first choice for the councilor's office. The message quite graphically expressed how she would be murdered if she did not immediately step down.

She had talked to several of her new colleagues on the council about the message. The quarian councilor, Admiral Wen-Wen, whom she'd known for years, had just laughed it off.

"Welcome to the council," he had said. "It happens to all of us."

She was told something similar by both the asari and the turian councilor. The krogan councilor went one step further and showed her all the death threats he had received.

"Oh my," Oriana had said. "Are these all from this year?"

"Hah hah," the krogan had laughed boomingly. "These are just the ones from this morning."

Generally, Oriana was getting the feeling that she shouldn't take the threat too seriously. Gabriel, on the other hand, insisted that she hire protection immediately.

"All of the other councilors have bodyguards," he said, pointing stubbornly at her. "Even the krogan!"

"Kranx is much more likely to be attacked," Oriana replied.

"Please, just do it for me!" Gabriel begged. "You know I can't fight for shit, and it would make me sleep better at night if I knew that someone was looking out for you."

Oriana leaned back in her seat. This was not the first time they had discussed this, and the arrival of a death threat made Gabriel think that his point had been proven.

"You have never seen me fight, have you?" Oriana asked. "I'm rather good."

"I am sure you are," Gabriel said. "But you are not invincible."

It wasn't that Oriana had anything against bodyguards, but she had promised herself that she would still be the same person when she became a councilor. And personal protection seemed like quite a big change. It had never been necessary on Rannoch, not even when the debate about reactivation of the geth and the drell relocation had gotten heated. But this _was_ different. This was the Citadel. The seat of galactic power. And perhaps, even though she didn't want to admit it, Gabriel did have a point. She needed to concentrate on her job, and she couldn't do that if she was constantly looking over her shoulder.

She briefly considered Kolyat for the job, but knew that he would turn her down. Kolyat had sworn to protect his wife, Princess Vidani. Oriana had learned that the princess was one of the favorites to take over the drell seat on the council, but Vidani's only concern was the relocation of the drell to Rannoch. She did not want to go to the Citadel, choosing instead to stay on Kahje so she could work on convincing her father to commit to the Rannoch plan.

It was getting late in the evening after another long day at the office, and, realizing that this security discussion was not moving anywhere, Gabriel grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair.

"I have to go. I have a date. Just think about what I said," he sighed, "I'll see you next week."

"Goodnight," she answered.

"Do not stay at the office all night," Gabriel ordered. "Go out. Meet people."

She smiled and nodded at him as he closed the door behind him and left her alone in the office. Gabriel was perfectly suited to life on the Citadel. A sharply-dressed, intelligent social butterfly with a much better ability to balance life and work than her.

As promised, she had introduced Gabriel to Kurt. And Kurt had helped him find a nice new apartment on Tayzeri. Gabriel and Kurt's assistant Mona Penney had quickly become the best of friends, and now he was going on a date with one of her cousins. Oriana on the other hand, had not been socializing with anyone except from Kurt, Liara and of course Gabriel. She was, as she had discussed with Liara before taking her place on the council, married to her job. She lived in her office more than in the luxurious apartment that Kurt had found for her.

It had just been a month, but she could already feel that this way of living would wear her out. She needed to change. As always, Gabriel was absolutely correct.

She closed her computer and quickly checked her reflection in the mirror on her wall. To her surprise, she located tiny dark patches underneath her eyes. She had never seen such signs of fatigue on her face before. She trusted her superhuman regeneration to take care of that, but apparently she had worked too hard for even her genes to keep up.

She sighed. This was exactly what Miranda had warned her against. Oriana's sister had been exactly like this in her Cerberus days. Extremely focused, few social relations, minimum sleep, driven by results. But Shepard had taught Miranda the importance of friendship, the importance of taking a break from time to time. Shepard, if anyone, was proof that incredible results could be achieved without the kind of total devotion to work that the Lawson sisters had fallen prey to.

For the first time in a month, she left the office without the intention of continuing her work as soon as she came home. She caught a sky-cab from outside the Presidium Tower and asked the VI driver to drop her off at her favorite restaurant. Having treated herself to a nice dinner and half a bottle of wine, she took another cab home.

She absolutely loved her apartment. She had sworn not to change too much when she became councilor, but she had indulged herself and accepted this absolutely ridiculous apartment when Kurt suggested it to her. It was nearly as big as her old house back on Rannoch, perfectly placed close to the Presidium Tower and the view was only beaten by the Council Chambers.

She looked out of the windows at all the lights. So many lives were going on out there. The thought that she was responsible for all of them, and billions more all around the galaxy, made her dizzy.

She asked the VI that controlled almost everything in the apartment to play some music. Not Tchaikovsky or Chopin as usual, but a modern rock band from Sydney that Jack had told her about. Humming along to the tunes, she walked across the apartment to her giant 20,000 liter aquarium. It was already installed when she took over the apartment, a gift from Kurt. Oriana found that it was quite meditative watching the tropical fish swimming around the simulated reef. Her favorites were the miniature sharks.

"Feeding time," Oriana said, and the VI released a small amount of fish food into the water. She watched happily as the sharks and the smaller fish went into a complete frenzy.

She then asked the VI to turn up the music and turn on the shower, while she stepped out of her work clothes. After a quick bath, she again stood in front of the mirror. Now that her makeup was washed away, she could really see the signs of fatigue. They were very small, probably not something that anyone else would have noticed, but Oriana was used to seeing a perfect complexion in the mirror, and she was loath to settle with anything else. She quickly covered the imperfections with a new layer makeup and played around with her shoulder-length brown hair until she was satisfied that it looked nothing like on a normal working day.

She walked to her bedroom and into her walk-in closet. She picked out a set of black lace underwear and put it on. She then found a short silver dress and held that up in front of her. It was a gift from Tali. For a quarian, the admiral had surprisingly good taste in human fashion. Oriana had never worn this dress before. Mainly because she thought it was a bit too provocative to wear at the office. It was definitely a going-out dress. Oriana lifted the dress over her head and put it on. She was only just able to pull it down past her breasts. The dress was very tight, and when she finally managed to zip up the back, she could really see how it accentuated her every curve. She almost took it off again to wear something more conservative. But she decided to give the dress a chance. After all, she had promised herself that this evening would not be ordinary.

Singing along to the music that was still playing, Oriana put on a pair of black stiletto heels and walked back out to the kitchen. The clothes and the fact that she had paid even more attention to her makeup and hair than usual made her feel very confident.

"Call a cab, please," she requested from her VI.

 _"_ _Yes, Miss Lawson. There is one parked outside the building already, it will wait for you."_

"Excellent. Music and lights off, please," Oriana said and left the apartment.

Stepping out of the elevator on the ground floor, she saw that a sky-cab was already idling in front of her with the passenger door open.

"To Inferno, please," she said, climbing into the cab.

A few minutes later, she paid for her fare and stepped out of the cab in front of the hottest nightclub on the Presidium, Inferno. She could already hear the music pounding away from inside the building. The club was owned by Aria T'Loak, who had opened Inferno a few years earlier and quickly made it the most prestigious place on the Citadel. Inferno was frequented by the rich and famous of the Presidium, but also attracted many guests from the wards. She would not be surprised to find Gabriel and his date in there.

At the door she was met by two asari bouncers. One of them was holding a datapad and was monitoring the volume of guests inside. It was the day before the weekend, so Oriana guessed that the club would be busy.

"Got room for one more?" she asked.

"Sorry, Miss…" the one with the datapad started before looking up at Oriana. "Councilor Lawson! Of course!"

Oriana cringed. She was not fond of receiving special treatment because of her position. But it seemed that was just something she had to get used to as a councilor on the Citadel.

The bouncer lifted up the little velvet rope, and Oriana proceeded into the club. Another asari with an earpiece greeted her as soon as she was inside.

"Welcome, Councilor Lawson. My name is Abianca, and I will be your hostess for tonight. Call me if you need anything."

Slightly annoyed, Oriana followed Abianca, who took her right past the line where many others were queueing in order to pay for their entrance. The hostess took Oriana all the way across the dancefloor to one of the private booths.

"I am sorry, you will have to leave," Abianca told the group of asari already occupiying the booth. The asari in the booth looked at Oriana, then at each other and shrugged and began to shuffle out of the booth.

"Absolutely not," Oriana said. "Get back in your seats, ladies. Thank you for your assistance, Abianca. I will let you know if I need anything else."

Abianca looked back at her in confusion for a moment, but eventually smiled. "Of course, Councilor."

While the hostess returned to the entrance, Oriana apologized to the asari in the booth and found the nearest bar. She ordered a gin and lemonade, one of her favorite drinks, and asked the bartender if she could pay for both the drink and entrance fee. The bartender, also an asari, looked at her strangely, but said she was free to pay as much as she wanted.

Oriana found an empty table next to the dancefloor and took a sip of her drink through the straw. It was excellent. Aside from the awkward situation at the booth, Oriana had to admit that Aria had managed to establish a spectacularly good nightclub.

"Excuse me," a young human man, probably around twenty, said.

"Yes?"

"Aren't you our councilor? Aren't you Oriana Lawson?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes," Oriana said, taking another sip of her drink. "Is there an issue you would like me to bring to the next council meeting?"

"Hah," he laughed. "Good one. No, I just wanted to let you know that you are the hottest politician ever!"

The man, Oriana suspected, was quite intoxicated. But his fascinated smile and his glee with meeting her was very entertaining to watch.

"Why thank you," she said. "I hope you appreciate my work as well."

"Oh yeah," he said quickly. "Yeah, of course! I'm Philip by the way."

"Nice to meet you, and my eyes are up here, Philip."

"Whoops, sorry."

Drunk or not, Oriana's confidence was growing as a result of Philip's behavior. By her estimation, she was about 15 years older than him. It felt good to know that she could still affect a man in this way. At least she could confirm that her looks were not to blame for her enduring singleness.

"Will you let me buy you a drink?" Philip asked.

She usually didn't allow men to pay for her drinks, preferring to do it herself. And she was not really interested in Philip, but she had promised herself to try and relax, so she would humor him and allow him to buy her a drink. She nodded.

"What is your poison?" he asked.

"Strawberry daiquiri, please," she said and giggled as the young man cheered and waddled over to the bar.

When Philip returned with her daiquiri and a beer for himself, he was accompanied by a very recognizable blond man, carrying two glasses of white wine.

"What do you know," Kurt Nielsen said. "I met this young man at the bar, insisting that he was buying a drink for our councilor. Well, he was bragging, really."

"See, it _is_ her!" Philip said.

"Well spotted, mate," Kurt said, giving Philip a congratulatory wink.

"Hi, Kurt," Oriana said.

"You two know each other?" Philip asked incredulously.

"Yes," Oriana said.

Kurt leaned in to hug Oriana and whispered in her ear. "When you've done whatever you're going to do to this boy, come and see me in the VIP section."

Oriana slapped him on the arm but nodded.

Philip looked after Kurt as he disappeared in the crowd.

"Cool guy," he said, in awe. Oriana could not help but laugh at how excitable Philip was.

"Not really," Oriana replied and held her glass out to Philip, who raised his glass as well. "Cheers."

"Do you come here often?" Philip asked, and Oriana sensed that he was now using the lines he usually deployed when trying to chat up a girl.

"First time," she replied. "You?"

"Every week," he laughed. "Much more than I can really afford."

"Must be expensive if you're buying drinks for all the girls…"

"Not all of them," he said with a cheeky wink. "Just the really pretty ones."

Oriana laughed and took another sip of her drink.

"And what do you do for a living?" she asked, suspecting that Philip's nights out, and by extension her daiquiri, were really sponsored by his parents.

"I'm a student," he said, all but confirming her theory. "Over at the university."

"Studying what?"

"Aviation," he said, rather proudly.

Oriana nodded, pretending to be utterly impressed. "So you're a hotshot pilot?"

"I will be," he said. "I'm gonna fly the Normandy one day."

"Mhhmm," Oriana hummed. "I'm not sure Joker's planning on giving up his chair anytime soon."

He laughed goofily. She was pretty sure that Philip was unaware that she had first-hand experience with the Normandy and its crew.

The young man leaned in closer. "So," he said, "are you here alone?"

Oriana guessed that the whole pilot thing, a few compliments and the daiquiri usually worked when Philip tried to chat up a girl. Despite his intoxication, he was sufficiently charming to make Oriana smile, but she would not go much further. And it was time to let him know. She didn't like stringing him along, and she didn't want him, or his parents for that sake, to pay for any more of her drinks.

"Yes," she said, "but I am here to meet someone. It's been lovely chatting to you, and thank you for the drink, Philip."

To his credit, Philip took the polite rejection like a champ.

"It was my pleasure, Councilor," he said. "I can't wait to tell my friends at uni about this!"

Oriana giggled. "Make sure not to enhance the story," she said with just a slight warning tone to her voice. She knew how people could make a mountain out of a molehill, and an innocent drink at Inferno could quickly turn into a whole lot more if Philip was tempted to spice up his tale, even just a little bit. She didn't need a rumor going around the university that the councilor was picking up young guys and having sex with them in the bathroom stalls.

Philip smiled and nodded at her in understanding, as she shook his hand to say goodbye. Before she had even moved away, she saw him bouncing over to the group of asari that had nearly been kicked out of their booth for Oriana's sake. She could not help but smile as she moved through the crowd towards the back of the club. Her experience with Philip had been very pleasant, and very beneficial for her self-esteem as well.

"Oriana, over here!" Kurt called and waved her over to a couch in the very back area of the nightclub. A couple of mean-looking asari guards measured her up as she moved into the VIP section of Inferno. Apparently, they were satisfied to let her enter.

"Kurt, what is this place?" Oriana asked when she finally reached the couch.

Then she recognized the asari sitting next to him, holding a glass of white wine. She had met Adina T'Loak before, when Kurt had brought her to Jennifer's birthday part the previous year, but seeing the 'princess' of Omega in her natural habitat, the nightclub, was something else entirely. Adina was stunningly beautiful, and, just sitting on the couch, watching the proceedings in the club owned by her sister, she was attracting more attention than a krogan in a Russian ballet. And Kurt, who was basking in her mere presence, was smiling even brighter than usually.

Oriana knew, from talks with Vera and Jennifer, that Adina had been the girl of Kurt's dreams ever since the war. And it was easy to see why. According to Vera, Kurt was willing to swear off all other women, not a small thing for him, if only Adina would have him. As far as Oriana was informed, Adina had not been willing to fully commit to a relationship, but that hadn't stopped the two from meeting whenever she came to the Citadel or when Kurt was on Omega on his 'strictly necessary' business trips.

As a councilor, Oriana was sure that she would soon be involved in Aria's business on the Citadel. After all, T'Loak was one of the major investors. On top of Inferno, Aria also owned several other bars, restaurants, casinos and hotels on both the Presidium and the two finished wards.

"Welcome to Inferno, Councilor," Adina said, gesturing for Oriana to take a seat next to Kurt and herself. "I hope it is not too late to congratulate you on the new job."

"Thank you," Oriana said, taking the offered seat. "And, please, just 'Oriana'. I am here to enjoy myself."

"Then you came to the right place," Adina replied with a confident smile.

Kurt looked out towards the dancefloor where Oriana had just come from.

"What happened to Prince Charming?" he asked. "Did he finish early? Or was it just past his bedtime?"

Oriana laughed with Kurt and Adina, and she tried to spot Philip on the dancefloor, but was unable to locate him.

"Just a concerned citizen with a request for his council representative," she joked.

Adina chuckled and ordered a round of drinks to the table, and Oriana asked her why she was on the Citadel.

"Are you here on behalf of your sister?" she asked. It was common knowledge that Adina often traveled to represent the voice of Aria T'Loak.

The asari shook her head. "I will be doing business while I'm here, but I am mainly here for _pleasure."_

She said the last word so seductively that Oriana almost felt like taking off her dress. And Kurt, whom Adina had been glancing at when she said it, nearly fell off the couch. The princess of Omega was a master of seduction, and if Oriana hadn't known for a fact that Kurt had already had sex with Adina on several occasions and survived, she would have sworn that she was an Ardat-Yakshi. More likely, Adina was just extremely skilled at combining her use of body language with her undeniable beauty and natural asari abilities. Oriana admired that. Miranda had had a similar ability to seduce and persuade anyone in her vicinity. Oriana was slowly beginning to learn the skill, but had to admit that Adina, with maybe two centuries of experience in the art of seduction, was on a completely different level.

"I like your place," Oriana told Adina, who just nodded.

"It's Aria's," she replied shortly.

Kurt put his arm around Adina's shoulders. "I was just telling Adina how our friends are doing around the galaxy. Have you heard from anyone lately?"

She had most recently corresponded with Kolyat, who had told her about his wife's decision to stay on Kahje to convince her father to move the drell to Rannoch. The rest of them had of course congratulated her on becoming councilor, but it had been a while since she had had a good chat with any of them.

"So, Charles and Jennifer have moved to Grissom. They are teaching biotics there. Their kids are both in the Ascension Project. Vera works at the academy too. But she and James bought a house on Elysium. Their children go to school there," Kurt told Adina.

"Is Prangley still captaining Shepard's old ship?" Adina asked interestedly.

Kurt nodded, and Oriana took the opportunity to update the two others on Kolyat's situation on Kahje. It still pained her that she hadn't been able to see her drell project to the end. Hopefully, Kolyat and Vidani could go the rest of the way on their own. Otherwise, she would do what she could to help from the council chambers.

Oriana spent the rest of her night out with Kurt and Adina, sharing stories from Rannoch, Omega and the Citadel. They had several more drinks, and it quite obviously became harder and harder for Kurt and Adina to keep their hands off each other as the night progressed. Eventually, when she had somehow ended up sitting in Kurt's lap, Adina suddenly decided that enough was enough. She stood up quickly, apologized to Oriana and started dragging Kurt away by his tie.

"Talk to you tomorrow?" Kurt gasped, as he was almost being choked by the silk around his neck.

Oriana smiled and nodded, Kurt winked and eagerly followed Adina out of Inferno.

Oriana had to admit that she was more than a little jealous of the two of them. She had not realized, until she was sitting next to Kurt and Adina, how sexually frustrated she actually was. Because of her dedication to her job and her isolated live on Rannoch for about eight years, Oriana's sexual encounters had been few and far between.

Before leaving Earth for Rannoch, Oriana had been working to rebuild the space port near Tokyo, and she had a brief fling with a Japanese man called Daichi. Sadly, Daichi had been exposed to large amounts of element zero during the war and developed severe brain cancer. He died before Oriana told anyone else about the relationship. She accepted the job as ambassador to Rannoch shortly after. On Rannoch, she at one time caved in when a quarian diplomat made advanced towards her. Mostly out of curiosity, she had accepted to have sex with him. She wanted to see what it was like with an alien. Unfortunately, he had not been as careful as he should have been with his suit sterilization and antibiotics, and he had been sick for almost a month after. He still claimed that it had been the best night of his life. And finally, she had gotten drunk once and allowed Gabriel's cousin Anthony to seduce her. It was definitely not her proudest moment, and Gabriel would sometimes mention it when he thought that she needed a reminder that she was not without her faults.

Admittedly, she had not been very successful in picking her sexual partners, which was probably why she had only dared it a few times. Over the years, she had just gotten used to not having a partner and not having any physical relationships. But at least it had mostly been the same for Gabriel. Now, since they had moved to the Citadel, Gabriel had adapted much better than her. It frustrated her just as much as watching Kurt and Adina being all cuddly with each other. Having a few drinks in her didn't help. The alcohol reawakened her lustful feelings, and the fact that she was dressed to impress suddenly became very clear to her as she looked down her own body.

"Who wouldn't want to get with _this_?" she whispered to herself, running a hand slowly down her side. She was almost tempted to go out and find Philip, just to prove to herself that she was still a functioning woman in every sense.

Then she started giggling at her own silliness. Still, through her slightly intoxicated giggles, she remembered Miranda's last words to her. Miranda had wanted a normal life for her sister. She had wanted Oriana to do the things she never could herself. Get married. Have children. Have a life outside of the job. Oriana felt ashamed. She was living exactly the opposite life of that which Miranda had tried to give her. She was becoming just like Miranda herself, married to nothing but her work. No, she wasn't _becoming_ , she was already like that. She was suddenly gripped by an overpowering sadness and a longing to speak with her sister. She wanted to get out of the nightclub as quickly as possible.

Deciding that the fresh air would be good for her, she chose to walk home instead of getting a cab. Not that the air on the Citadel really was fresh. It was, of course, recycled station-air. That was one of the things she missed most about living on an actual planet - the clean, natural air. Not that the air on the Citadel was disgusting in any way. The station had the best circulation system in the known universe. Still, it just wasn't the same.

As Oriana made her way down a narrow empty street, thinking about air circulation and filtering to keep the painful memories of Miranda away, she almost bumped into a skycar that was parked rather inconveniently just in the middle of everything. She was about to walk around it when four men stepped out of the vehicle. Oriana would just have continued on her way home, if the four had not been so heavily armed with shotguns and pistols.

Instinctively, she formed a barrier, and only just in time to prevent the full blast of the shotguns to hit her square in the chest. Her barrier flickered and disappeared, and Oriana, standing alone in front of the four armed men, was suddenly sober and very much afraid.

Purging the influence of the alcohol, her analytic brain kicked into overdrive. It was as if time stood still, as she absorbed all the information that her senses could gather, and her brain started to put the pieces together to form a response: Four men in black uniforms. Two shotguns. Two pistols. Close proximity. Skycar. No logos on the car or the uniforms. Forget about logos. Identification irrelevant. Imminent threat.

One of the men, the one who had fired his shotgun at her, took half a step forward. Oriana's brain was still gathering data: Will he try to kidnap me? The car door is still open. No! He fired the shotgun immediately. They want me dead.

As soon as Oriana's brain, slightly slowed down by the alcohol, had finished its processing, her response came immediately. With a quick hand movement, all four attackers were sent flying away from her. One of them dropped his gun as he slid along the street. Two others went sailing over the car and landed on the opposite side of the street. The last one flew threw a store window and disappeared among racks of expensive tuxedos and dresses.

Instinctively, Oriana took cover behind the parked car, expecting the two on the other side of the street to regain their composure first. She didn't know if it was for the fact that she had been drinking or because she hadn't used her powers in an actual fight for years, but she could feel an unpleasant throbbing in her head, and she was not at all confident that she would be able to finish all four of them off. Trying to ignore her own quickened breathing and the pounding of her heart, she listened for any clue that her attackers were getting back on their feet. Crouching in her tight silver dress was incredibly uncomfortable, and she immediately decided to kick off her black stilettos, getting ready to run away.

"Help!" she shouted, deeming it the most logical action. Her next move would have been to run back where she came from, if it hadn't been for another thundering blast from a shotgun and the crash of a shattered car window just above her head. The glass rained down over her, and Oriana pressed herself tighter up against the car, making sure that her head was not visible. As she tried to hide from the would-be murderers on the opposite side of the street, the man that had gone through the shop window was slowly crawling out. If he was still armed, he would have a direct shot at her.

Moving her hand in a come-hither fashion, she encased the man in a biotic field and pulled him back out until he was hovering right above her. He looked down at her and, still suspended in the air, pulled out his pistol. Before he could fire, Oriana flung him over the car and winced at the sound of meat slamming against the side of a building. She had been aiming in the general direction of the two attackers on that side, but she did not dare to look up to see if she had hit them.

The man, that had dropped his pistol earlier, had picked it back up and was now back on his feet and approaching her. Oriana would have left the cover of the skycar and taken him out, had she not been under constant fire from the two across the street. She formed a barrier and tried to run away from the car. But halfway across to a small alley, the barrier was ripped to shreds by a shotgun blast, and she felt a bullet actually hit her hair. Terrified and disappointed in her own ability to form a stronger barrier, she dove into the alley. Just as she landed, a tall dark figure walked straight past her and out into the street. She only caught a glimpse of him, but she could have sworn that he was in pajama bottoms… And not much else.

Barefooted, the man strolled right past her and out into the street. With trained movements, he raised a pistol and took down the first two attackers, who seemed utterly surprised by this man's sudden appearance. The last one was hiding behind the skycar that they arrived in, and he was shooting wildly at the newly arrived. The man in the pajama pants took cover behind a large advertisement sign, guaranteeing anyone playing at Aria's new casino a free drink. He tried to get a good shot at the man behind the skycar, but he was under too heavy fire, and the other had better cover. Oriana, who was peeking out from the alley, took a deep breath and concentrated hard on what she wanted to do.

The last of her would-be assasins looked completely taken by surprise, when his cover, the heavy skycar, suddenly flipped into the air and landed further down the street, and he was left crouching stupidly in the middle of the street.

"Drop your weapon!" the man in the pajama pants shouted.

When the man in the black uniform ignored the direction and raised his weapon instead, Oriana's savior dropped him with a single, highly effective bullet to the head.

Oriana stood up and slowly walked back out of the alley.

"Are you okay, Councilor?" the man asked, looking up and down the street for more potential attackers.

She nodded. All around her, lights were being turned on in the windows, and some people were even poking their heads out to see what was going on in the street that had been so quiet just a few minutes earlier.

"Come with me," he said.

"Just a moment," Oriana said and ran back to the skycar to pick up her shoes. They had been very expensive and it would take more than an assassination attempt for her to just leave them lying on the street.

On the way back, she cut her foot open on a piece of glass from the skycar's window. Limping, she returned to the man, who was waiting for her. She took the chance to get a better look at him. He was tall with short, dark military-style hair. Quite good-looking, Oriana could not help but notice. But then again, he was not wearing a shirt, he had just saved her from assassins, and she had been drinking.

"Thank you for helping me," she said. "But what are you doing here?"

He looked down at himself, as if the answer was obvious. "I live here, Ms. Lawson."

That _was_ obvious. The only logical explanation for why he was dressed like that. Clearly, he had been sleeping or just about to go to sleep. She mentally kicked herself for not realizing that immediately. She wondered if she was in shock from the attack.

"Not to sound ungrateful… But do you have a permit for that?" she asked, pointing at his pistol. As a general rule, private citizens were not allowed to own weapons on the Citadel.

The man pressed the metallic band on his wrist, his omni-tool, and a holographic image appeared over his upturned palm. It was a badge.

"Spectre?" Oriana asked.

He nodded. "Agent Tom Domino," he introduced himself. "Now, please follow me, Councilor. We need to get you out of here. I already called for backup. C-Sec will be here soon."

Oriana did as she was told and followed Domino back into the alley and through a door to a stairway. Once they were inside, on the white tiles, he noticed that she was bleeding.

"It's just from the glass," she assured him quickly.

"We can clean that upstairs," he said. "Would you like me to carry you, Councilor?"

"Absolutely not," she replied and allowed him to lead the way up the stairs to his apartment. Limping slightly, she followed him as he scanned his eye and opened his door. Placing the gun on the kitchen counter, he disappeared into the bathroom to find a first aid kit.

Oriana, still carrying her shoes in her hand, sat down on the edge of his couch and looked around the apartment. It was very clean and tidy. So much so that she almost suspected that no-one was really living there. There were no family photos or anything to suggest any personal style either. It was all completely neutral. Either Spectre Domino was incredibly boring, or he had only just moved in. She found herself hoping for the latter.

The spectre returned from the bathroom and asked her to lie down and put up her leg. She did as he said, realizing that, although she as a councilor had direct authority over the spectres, she was, technically, the victim of the crime, which meant that she should probably listen to him.

Lying down on Domino's couch, she suddenly realized how much her very short dress would reveal, as he was working on her foot. To his credit, he was a complete professional. And her foot was cleaned, covered in medi-gel and bandaged in no time. As he worked, Oriana took a closer look at the spectre. He had to be around thirty, maybe a little younger, and, judging by his appearance, his ethnicity seemed to be a mix of all the continents on Earth, and a very aesthetically pleasing one at that.

Things had changed a lot since the days when Shepard and Alenko pioneered the way for human spectres. Oriana and the other councilors now had a force of 17 human spectres at their service. Oriana was ashamed, that she did not know these 17 men and women. As the human councilor, she was responsible for them more than anyone. But there had been so much for her to learn, and familiarizing herself with the individual spectres, of which there were many, had not been a priority. It would be, as soon as she was back in her office. She was sure that the other councilors at least knew their own spectres, possibly all 91 of them.

Outside the window, she could see flashing lights and hear dull voices shouting unintelligible commands. C-Sec had arrived on the crime scene. As he finished working on her foot, Domino also looked out at the flashing blue lights.

"Who were those men?" he asked.

"I have an idea, but I am not sure," she replied and sat up, making sure that her dress was covering her appropriately. "I was just on my way home."

"From Inferno?" he guessed.

"Are you saying that because of my dress?" she asked.

He nodded, glancing back at the flashing lights outside. "It's late, and it doesn't look like what you normally wear to meetings."

"Excuse me, Mr. Domino, but have we met before? How do you know what I wear to work?"

"We have not been introduced," he said, walking over to the windows to look down at his C-Sec colleagues at work. "But I am often there. In the shadows."

Of course, Oriana thought to herself. One of the primary responsibilities of the spectres was to protect the council. Domino would have had plenty opportunities to observe her in the council chambers, and she would never have noticed him. She nearly started laughing, thinking about how the spectre was now experiencing a very different version of the human councilor.

"Nice biotics," he said. "I did not know you could do that, Ms. Lawson."

She nodded. "It's been a few years. I'm rusty."

"You lifted a car," he said, looking down at the upturned vehicle on the street.

Oriana shrugged, trying not to look too overconfident. Actually, she was a little disappointed that she had needed his help at all. She promised herself that she would practice her biotics more often.

"I'll take you to our safe house," Domino said. "It's near the Spectre Offices."

He disappeared into one of the adjoining rooms, presumably his bedroom, and came back out a moment later, wearing the midnight blue uniform that Oriana had seen from time to time near the Presidium Tower.

"Why the safe house?" Oriana asked, as he waited for her to put her shoes on. "Can't I just go home?"

"Absolutely not, Councilor," he said. "Whoever attacked you may have another team waiting for you at your home. Or they could have placed explosives. I've ordered a team from C-Sec's special operations corps to your apartment. If everything looks clear, you can return to your home tomorrow."

She nodded. He was making a fair point. She, on the other hand, was once again disappointed that she hadn't arrived at that logical conclusion herself. Something was distracting her, and now that Domino was fully dressed, she could no longer use that as an excuse.

"Ready to go?" he asked, once Oriana had finally managed to put her shoe on without messing up the bandage.

She nodded and followed him out of the apartment. It was getting so late that the Citadel's day/night cycle had almost completed a full rotation, and it would be light soon. She definitely wanted to get to bed soon. The adrenaline was no longer pumping, and she was almost falling asleep as she walked, she was so tired. She also didn't want people to see her, limping half-drunk through the street in a tiny dress and high hells with a bandaged foot. Thankfully, Domino managed to get her discretely into the safe house.

"I will make sure that this place is guarded," he assured her. "I'll have to go back to the crime scene and talk to the investigators. They will have questions for you as well. I will be back tomorrow. Sleep tight, Councilor."

She nodded. "Thank you, Spectre. And… Thank you."

He smiled at her. "My pleasure."

-X-X-X-

Oriana was sitting behind her desk in the office, trying to concentrate on her work. Not surprisingly, the assassination attempt had dominated the rest of her weekend. She had been busy with C-Sec interrogations and a large number of interviews with the press. She had also talked to all of her friends, both on and off the Citadel, after the assassination attempt had become publically known, to let them know that she was doing okay. Now that she was back in her office, she just wanted to move on from this. But everyone around her was not letting her.

Kurt had been particularly worried for her, and he was putting blame on himself, since he was the last person to talk to her before the attack. "I should have followed you home," he had told her. Oriana had, of course, told him that he had no reason to feel guilt.

As Oriana had suspected, the attackers did indeed turn out to have connections to the Terra Firma party. And the death threat they had sent her was suddenly taken a lot more seriously. Oriana also received apologies from those of her fellow councilors who had trivialized the threat and advised her to ignore it. Finally, the krogan councilor, Kranx, had told her, quite emotionally, how proud he was of her for destroying her enemies.

Gabriel, who was sitting at his desk in the corner of her office, had yelled at her, then hugged her and yelled at her some more. Now, he was just scowling, but looking worried at the same time.

"You still haven't told me how your date went," Oriana said.

"He was lovely," Gabriel replied shortly.

She had the feeling that an 'I told you so'-moment was coming up.

"You know, Gabe," she said, " _you_ are the one who have been telling me to go out some more. And I told you that it wouldn't end well."

"I thought you were risking a bad date, not being killed," Gabriel said. "And _I_ was also the one who told you to get a bodyguard."

Oriana shook her head.

"Are you going to see him again?" she asked.

"Who?"

"Mona's cousin."

"Yeah, he's cute. STICK TO THE TOPIC, WOMAN!"

Oriana chuckled tiredly. She was not taking the assassination attempt as seriously as Gabriel wanted her to, and it was annoying her assistant to no end.

In truth, Oriana was a little bit worried that she had been caught out in the open like that. She had not expected Terra Firma to actually go through with their death threat. And she certainly hadn't expected it so soon. They had given her less than a day to step down from her position before trying to kill her.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Spectre Domino entered. Oriana immediately rose from her desk and hurried forward to greet him.

"Gabe, this is Agent Tom Domino, my savior," she said. But Gabriel was already on his feet, shaking the spectres hand.

Oriana smiled and waited for her turn to shake Domino's hand.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

"I'm doing just fine," she assured him.

"She won't go to crisis counseling," Gabriel sighed in frustration, making a dramatic hand movement to visualize his despair.

"I'm not in a state of shock, Gabe," she hissed. "I've been shot at before. Remember the war?"

"Yeah, but you were not targeted personally!" he bit back.

She glared at him sternly. And the spectre looked uncomfortably at Oriana, then at her assistant and back at Oriana. She continued to glare at Gabriel to remind him, that she had in fact been targeted personally. Gabriel was one of her few friends who actually knew the full story of how Miranda had taken her away from her father, and how she had been a target for so many years. Not a murder target, but a target for kidnapping.

Gabriel, catching the meaning behind the look she was giving him, stopped talking immediately.

"I am not traumatized," she assured both Gabriel and Domino. "And I do _not_ need counseling. Understood?"

Gabriel nodded resignedly, and there was an awkward silence in the office.

"How can I help you, Spectre?" Oriana asked Domino to defuse the tension. "Do you need anything more for the investigation?"

He shook his head.

"I am just here to make you an offer," he said. "As I am sure you know, we spectres are given a lot of freedoms under your authority. One of them is to spend our time doing the work that we think benefits our galactic society the most, until you, the council, give us a specific mission. While some spectres chose to travel the galaxy, and some return to their home planets to represent the council there, I have chosen to stay at the Citadel, where I do my best to protect the councilors. If you will allow it, I would like to spend my time protecting you, until the threat level is back to normal."

"She accepts your offer," Gabriel said immediately, rushing forward to shake Domino's hand once again. "You're hired!"

Oriana, who was already tired of being escorted everywhere by the two C-Sec officers that were currently standing guard outside her office, hummed, as she thought about the idea of having Domino around. As long as there wouldn't be C-Sec employees tracking her every move and standing outside her office and even her home all the time, she could live with it. At least for a short while.

"I accept," she told Domino, and noticed how Gabriel smiled thankfully at her. "But I want C-Sec to stop wasting resources on me. There must be something more productive they can do for our citizens."

Domino nodded. "I will stick around," he said and left the office, hopefully to tell some C-Sec director to send his boys home.

"Happy now?" Oriana asked Gabriel, once they were alone again.

"Very happy," he said. "There's just one thing…"

"What's wrong now?" she sighed.

"He can't be in the room," Gabriel said. "I'll never get any work done."

Oriana laughed. "You'll just have to learn to control yourself."

"Oh, come on!" Gabriel said. "Even you can't be that blind. He is gorgeous!"

She shook her head and laughed at him. But she was inclined to agree with her assistant. There was something about Tom Domino. And it wasn't just about his handsomeness or the fact that he had shown up at just the right time, without a shirt.

It was in the way he spoke, in his dedication to his job and his ability to be harsh and dangerous, but soft and caring, almost at the same time. She had, without admitting it to anyone, taken a long hard look at Domino's file at the Spectre Offices, which she, as a councilor, had access to.

It was general knowledge that almost all of the spectres had glorified military or C-Sec careers behind them. And, as Oriana had learned, Tom Domino was no different. Much like she had become the youngest human councilor in history, Domino was the youngest spectre. He was 27, eight years her junior, but had been accepted into the C-Sec academy at an unusually low age for a human. He had just been 21 years old, and the Presidium ring had just been built. But Tom Domino had quickly advanced through the ranks, until, as a 26-year-old, he was made a spectre.

Domino's work history explained why he chose to spend his time on the Citadel, looking after the council. That was just what he was used to as a former C-Sec officer.

Without feeling too much like a stalker, she had found out that Domino was actually born on the Citadel, the old one, but that his parents had lived on Earth, near the Mediterranean Sea, during the war. He had only been 11 years old by the end of the war, so he would have experienced it very differently from Oriana who saw everything from the frontlines in London.

Prior to receiving the honor of becoming a spectre, Domino had been awarded with several medals for his service. But Domino's medical records, which Oriana also had access to, were actually even more interesting than his achievements. Since his medical records were potentially rather personal, she only read the headlines. But that was more than enough. Domino had been seriously injured five times in the span of his relatively short career. It wasn't that there was much violent crime on the Citadel. But it just seemed like he had always found a way to get himself involved. He had been stabbed, twice, shot once, run over by a skycar and thrown out a window. Oriana hoped that she would get to hear the stories behind those injuries one day.

Naturally, she had not told Gabriel about any of this. She had not even revealed to him that she was even the slightest bit interested in Agent Domino, although she was sure that Gabriel, who knew her so well, suspected something already.

Oriana had not taken any days off work following her assassination attempt. She had simply showed up at her office after the weekend and started working as normal. Gabriel, who remained convinced that she should see a psychologist, had made her promise that she at least would go home early.

"I hope this doesn't mean that you'll never go out again," he said as she was getting ready to leave in the afternoon.

"Nah," she said.

"So you did have a good time, until… You know?"

"Yes, I did," Oriana admitted. "You were right. I needed to get out."

Just as Oriana was about to leave, Domino returned.

"I've talked to C-Sec," he said. "The spectres will take over your protection here at the office and at home."

"And by the spectres you mean you?" Gabriel asked.

Agent Domino nodded. "Yes. I have assumed responsibility for the councilor's protection."

Gabriel smiled widely.

"I should warn you, Spectre. Miss Lawson often stays at the office until late in the evening. Your wife may not be happy that you've taken this assignment."

"Oh, I'm not married. I live alone," Domino answered.

"Is that right?" Gabriel said, slowly turning his head towards Oriana, giving her a pointed look. "Everything should be just fine then…"

Oriana glared back at him, and Gabriel had to hide his smirk with his hand.

If Domino picked up any of the silent conversation going on between the councilor and her assistant, he certainly didn't show it.

"Were you about to leave, Councilor?" he asked, holding the door open.

She nodded, and the spectre stepped out of the office.

"No wife…" Gabriel whispered to Oriana as she picked up her bag from her desk.

She just shook her head at him and waved before joining Domino outside the office.

Parked just outside the Presidium Tower was a skycar. It belonged to C-Sec and had their logo and everything on the side of it.

"I borrowed this to take you to and from work," Domino said.

Oriana shook her head at him, and she refused to step into the car. "I am fine with you protecting me, but I will not be driven around in this. I can walk or take a cab like I normally do."

Domino was about to interject that she would be much safer in the armored vehicle. But Oriana's crossed arms and dissatisfied stance was enough to silence him.

"I'll hail a sky-cab," he said.

When the cab arrived, Oriana crawled in first, followed by her new spectre protector. As soon as the cab stopped again, allowing them to get off at Oriana's place, Domino jumped out and started to scan the area with his eyes. Oriana was just relieved to see that there were no longer C-Sec guards posted in front of her apartment.

Entering her home, Oriana dropped her bag on the dinner table and kicked off her shoes immediately. She felt like a shower would do her some good.

"Make yourself at home," she told Domino, who still stood by the door.

"I'll be just outside if you need me," he said.

Oriana raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to stand out there all night? And what about tomorrow? You have to live your life, and you have to sleep!"

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "One of my colleagues will stand guard during the night, and I will be here to escort you back to the office again tomorrow."

She wasn't sure what she had expected when Domino had offered his protection, but it seemed that she had only gained a spectre to stand outside her door instead of a couple of C-Sec officers.

"Can't you protect me from in here?" she asked, hoping that was not a weird question to ask.

"Yes," he replied. "If you want me to."

"I do."

He nodded and walked over to the large aquarium.

"Feel free to grab anything from the kitchen," she said.

"Yes, Ms. Lawson."

She disappeared into the bathroom, but came out 10 seconds later. "Please call me Oriana," she asked.

"Of course," he said, taking his eyes off the small sharks for a second or two. "And you can just call me Tom."

Oriana nodded and disappeared back into the bathroom. After a quick shower, she felt refreshed and a lot more confident that all her current worries would soon disappear. What an effect hot water and a little soap could have.

After toweling off, she became aware that she had forgotten to find some clean clothes. She had gotten so used to living alone that she would just walk naked from the bathroom to the bedroom.

She wrapped a towel around herself and tip-toed out of the bathroom. Tom was sitting on her couch, looking out of the windows. When she walked across the floor in just the towel, she was annoyed that the spectre barely even looked at her. She wasn't quite sure why, perhaps she was just being vain again, but it mattered quite a lot to her that Agent Domino reacted to her being half-naked.

But so far Tom had been a complete professional, and Oriana found it surprisingly frustrating that she apparently had no effect on him at all. She was aware that her physical appearance was far beyond average, and she contemplated if perhaps Tom's preferences were like Gabriel's.

Instead of going straight into her bedroom, Oriana chose to sit down on the couch opposite Tom. She wanted him to notice her. She wanted him to blush, or to start stuttering, or to stare. But Tom did neither.

Oriana's confidence was dwindling. She knew she was being superficial, vain and quite self-obsessed, but she needed him to acknowledge her in some way.

The spectre looked at her, but not lustfully or with embarrassment as Oriana had aimed for, and she tactically adjusted the towel to reveal even more.

That seemed to at least catch Tom's attention, but he still wasn't reacting as she expected.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Oriana?" he asked.

She was aware that she had just been sitting across from him, glaring at him, for almost a minute. Obviously, he was finding her behavior very strange. She sighed in frustration. Did she have to stand up and drop the towel completely to get a real reaction out of him?

She was actually becoming mad at him. How was he not picking up the signals she was sending him? Deciding that it was time to escalate the situation, she rose from her seat, walked around the coffee table and sat down right beside him. To Tom's credit, he didn't nervously scoot away from her. He simple stayed where he was, still looking at her.

She placed a hand on his thigh and shook her hair lightly to let him catch the scent of her cherry shampoo. She was really playing all of her trump cards, and the hand on the thigh finally seemed to make it clear to Tom what her intentions were.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Oriana?" he asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"You are making it very hard for me," Oriana replied, moving her hand a few centimeters further up his thigh.

"I gave it my best," he groaned softly, "just tried to remember my training."

"So you _did_ notice?"

"Are you _really_ asking me if I noticed you coming out of the bathroom in a towel? Of course I did."

She smiled. She _had_ caught his attention. He was just too much of a professional to show it. "Oh, you're good," she said.

Oriana used her biotics to discretely make her towel drop down completely. To Tom it would have looked like an accident.

"Oh no," Oriana purred, pressing up against him.

The spectre finally blushed openmouthed as he looked down at her naked breasts.

"Yes!" she cheered and laughed. "I win!"

Tom sighed and leaned back on the couch.

"I broke you!" she laughed and somehow ended up sitting with one leg on either side of him, her breasts hovering right in front of his face.

"Wait," Tom said, obviously resisting the urge to explore her body with his hands. "Is this just a game, or is it for real?"

Oriana leaned forward and bit his ear softly. "What do you think, Agent Domino?" she whispered.

He finally put his hands on her back and pulled her closer. Running his fingers through her hair, he closed the distance between their lips and kissed her passionately, until he eventually flipped her around and laid her gently down on the couch, lowering himself over her.

"This could get me fired," he panted as she started to remove the upper part of his uniform.

She kissed him quickly and shook her head. "No. I am your boss, remember?"

He laughed against her lips and groaned when she wrapped her long legs around him, pulling him down on top of her. Even through his pants she could feel his erection pressing against her naked body. It was a huge relief for her that she, after all, was able to affect him in this way.

When the two of them had finally managed to bring Tom to a state of undress similar to hers, Oriana bit her lip and looked down at their bodies on top of each other. It had been a while, and now that she felt his skin on hers, she didn't know how she had gone for so long without going insane. She spread her legs and beckoned him to enter her.

He was hovering at her entrance, waiting for her final permission, as he trailed kisses from her breasts to her jaw.

"Do it, Spectre!" she groaned, writhing against his muscular body.

When he finally sank into her, she immediately gasped and shuddered with ecstasy. "Oh, Tom! Oh, sweet mother of… Uhhhh"

The young spectre continued to thrust into her, and Oriana, who had finally adjusted to accommodate his size, arched her back, bringing her breasts right up in his face. Tom took one of them in his hand and flicked her erect nipple with his finger while running his tongue around the other.

The simultaneous stimulation of both her nipples while he also drove his manhood into her was almost enough to send Oriana over the edge.

"Yes!" she screamed, arching her back even more, causing both of them to roll off the couch.

They landed on the floor with a meaty thud. Impressively, Tom's rhythm was only slightly disturbed by the sudden drop, and Oriana soon felt her climax coming. She whimpered as her walls tightened around his shaft, and Tom pressed his forehead against hers as he continued to thrust. He did not stop until she had had her second orgasm, and she finally felt him spilling his seed inside her. She reminded herself that she had to take her contraceptives.

Like hers, Tom's body was glistening with sweat as he finally rolled off her, and she snuggled up against him, resting her head on his bicep.

"Whoa! Whoa!" he kept saying, slightly out of breath. "Was that for saving you or because you actually like me?" Tom finally panted and kissed her forehead.

"It was a bit of both," Oriana sighed, leaving small kisses on the side of his chest. "You were amazing by the way."

She rolled on top of him and kissed him hard on the lips.

"Want a shower?" she asked.

He nodded, and to her surprise, carried her out into the bathroom where she had her second shower of the hour. But this one was so much better. She and Tom spent nearly 45 minutes washing each other very thoroughly.

Later, when they were lying naked on her bed, and she was resting her head on his stomach, feeling it rise and sink as he breathed, she thought about everything that had happened in the past few days. The spectre, who was now naked on the bed with her, playing with a few strands of her hair, had saved her from mysterious people who wanted to assassinate her. For some reason, the fact that she now had a sexual relationship with this man was actually more shocking to her than the attack.

"Is your office any closer to arresting someone?" she asked.

Tom sighed deeply, clearly frustrated that the answer was no.

"All we know is that the attackers definitely have connections to Terra Firma. We are trying to locate them," he said.

She rolled around and kissed his stomach a few times.

"You'll catch them," she said confidently, kissing further down towards his thigh. He hummed in satisfaction, and she quickly crawled on top of him.

"Again?" he sighed and she laughed. She _had_ been rather insatiable after finally getting his clothes off. He groaned, but eagerly reached up to grab her firm breasts. Oriana gave out a soft moan when, despite the fact that she was demanding quite a lot from him, she could feel his erection against one of her buttocks.

She bit her lower lip to prevent herself from smiling. She would have to tell Liara that she had 'gotten her sea legs back'. She remembered reading a scientific study when she was 15, revealing how women, contrary to popular belief, would actually share details about their sex lives with friends significantly more than men. She was certainly going to recommend Liara that she had a go with the young doctor she had been talking about. Tom gave an upward thrust, and Oriana gasped as he entered her. She had quickly forgotten everything she had just been thinking about.


End file.
